Nigeria, April 15 -- Prussian war strategist Carl von Clausewitz defines war as the continuation of politics by other means. In other words, when diplomacy fails, nations resort to war to achieve the same objectives they had set out to achieve with diplomacy. Thus, war is not an end in itself but a means to an end. And as Niccolo Machiavelli posits in his political treatise, The Prince, the end justifies the means. Once the end or objective is achieved, then, the loss, destruction, dislocation, and terrible suffering that war brings become justified. Three quick takeaways from Clausewitz's treatise are that war is a very serious business, which is not levied for flimsy reasons. Two: War is the last resort, and only after diplomacy has fa...